My deck garden is up and booming!

Am I allowed to share a link to my own blog? Don't want to get in trouble, but... yeah, that'd be quickest.

I garden on an 8'x16' deck. NOT your typical 2-3 pots of herbs and a hanging tomato, but a full vegetable garden. Well, full enough... I've got two teens here!

Anyway, here's how I arranged my deck this year:



And actual photos of everything in-place and doing well are here: http://mamahousemouse-rambles.blogspot.com/2014/05/extreme-container-gardening.html

 

I used to have mostly pepper plants in containers on a deck at my previous house. I liked sitting with all of the green around me. I couldn't even imagine how nice it would be with your setup. I hope you are allowed to leave the link to your blog.

 

Nice. Well done.

 

I just updated my garden photos HERE.

Someone stole a set of my bamboo support poles overnight, but everything else is doing so well! It's amazing to look at these photos & the ones I posted yesterday, and realize it's only been three weeks!

Don't suppose any of the long-time gardeners on here have any suggestions for my peppers? They're hot peppers, and they're yellowing because of historic rainfall. Do they just need drying out a bit, or is there an organic amendment I could help them with as well?

 

Yes, you can post a link to your blog. That's fine.

 

Woohoo! Thank you, Aerianne! I've not been on much lately, and couldn't remember for sure. But I THOUGHT I remembered that it was okay!

 

Yes. Things that aren't competition with HFs are okay for our members in good standing to post.

 

Another update post! Here's how things look this morning.

NorthEast corner: marigolds & alyssum are going crazy.

Most of my herbs are growing nicely. The basil & oregano was wonderful in our lasagna soup the other day. My lemonbalm is growing so fast I'm having a hard time keeping up with it! And the pumpkins in the back are blossoming finally!


My corner of shame is still living down to that nickname. Peppers are pitiful, melons are puny, and my lettuce DIED! See if I ever buy seed-tape again! It was a trial this year, but YUCK!


Tomatoes! Those bamboo poles are 6' high, so you can see for yourself how well they're doing. I counted over 2 dozen blossoms, and at least that many actual tomatoes as well!

 

My beans... what you can't see, is my husband ran a line from the top of this 8' tall bamboo tipi to the top of the cucumber one for the beans to run on, and there's a vine halfway to the cukes already!


Carrots, second harvest. I had to move my chocolate mint out of this corner because it wasn't getting enough light. But my carrots are looking lovely!


Last photo: Cucumbers & chives. I have NEVER seen my cukes grow quite like this before! Oh, am I excited about these!

 

Well... it's been a whole season on my amazing deck. I've had some awesome successes, (8' tall tomato plants?!?) and some complete failures.

This is my son, next to our tomato-zillas. He's 6'1" tall... yes, they really are bumping into the roof-eaves!

I blogged it all HERE along with my ideas for next year's garden.

I cannot WAIT for next year... we're adding a trellis for zucchini which will essentially turn the deck into an enormous pergola, but I also just found for amazing pots to use in lieu of the blue tubs I've had for years! I went to the store looking for two more blue tubs, and these were on clearance. My garden is going to be more productive, AND prettier next year! What a combination!

 

I took my last garden photos of the season today. Thought I'd share, just in case anyone was curious how I get my gardens ready for an Upper-Midwest winter.


Two of my six tomato bins are still actively ripening Bumble-Bee cherry tomatoes. They've been beat up by by two storms, and they're still kicking. These are the BEST tomatoes I have ever grown. I'll let them continue to grow and ripen until the vines die, or there are no more tomatoes before readying these bins for winter.

My chives are still going strong as well. I'll let them grow until our first hard frost, then cut them level to the ground so they come back again next spring. Even this far north, chives come back in a pot this shallow!


The North half of the garden is cleaned up, rearranged, and the soil has been hand-churned in preparation for next year. The one living plant is a final Santa Fe pepper that's still actively putting out blossoms. I may bring this in to see how far into the winter it grows under my kitchen skylight.


The West end of the deck - all ready for next year. Everything is pulled out, then the soil is hand-churned and all roots are carefully removed. I'll be amending the soil come spring, with lovely fresh compost and some epsom salts. That's all it takes for me to grow enormous crops! The compost I get from my dad's house, where there's an enormous kitchen and yard-scrap compost bin large enough to share.

 

Three more.


The South end of the deck - this corner still looks and smells amazing! I took a few extras here, to share what's "hiding" behind my bistro table. On the table, are the last of my purple basil, globe basil, and Greek oregano - ready to come in, and be dried for my spice jars.


Southwest corner of the deck. On the left are my marigolds & sweet alyssum. Still looking as amazing as the day I put them in. These flowers will be a repeat in next year's garden. On the right, is my lemonbalm that is still actively trying to choke out the lemon thyme that's also still actively growing. I'm going to let these go as long as possible, before uprooting them for the winter.


Southeast corner of the deck. My mint is still growing, though it's on borrowed time at this point. I'm letting it go just a bit longer, before I cut it level to come back next spring. You can also really see my lovely new planters in this photo! I went to the store last night to find two more blue bins, and found these on clearance for less than I had been willing to pay. I am SO excited to see how these will look with longbeans & zucchini creating a canopy over the deck next summer! What a FIND they were!

Mom would be so proud of this new garden setup. She passed away one month ago today, and she was my gardening inspiration & go-to with questions.

But that's the deck, nearly ready for winter & as ready as I can get it for next spring!